The three micro-loans Radinka received and repaid helped her buy new equipment and hire a worker to keep up with the growing demand for her custom handiwork. (Photo credit: Dragan Isaretovic/IOCC)

Radinka's rented workshop hums with activity each morning as she and her employee, Jelena, cut and stitch leather and textiles into custom made belts, slippers and clothing. She's come a long way from selling handmade clothes from her cramped Banja Luka apartment, using her sewing skills to support a husband and two sons during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

For the past ten years, IOCC has helped nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of more than 2,000 enterprising people like Radinka with loans averaging $1,700 to help them grow their businesses and make a strong positive impact on the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The economic success of the loan recipients has translated into an impressive repayment rate of 97% and in turn, creates sustainability for IOCC's program to continue to offer new opportunities to entrepreneurs wishing to build businesses in agriculture, services, trade and small-scale production. Says the grateful entrepreneur, "IOCC was there for me and my family when there was no one else to turn to, and helped me create financial stability and security during the most critical period of my sons' lives, their childhood and the teenage period."